Fascination and magic of words, intensity of the plot and beauty of the narrative are just some of the most striking features of “The Shadow of the Wind” of the Spanish writer and screenwriter Carlos Ruiz Zafón, who died in 2020.

It is the first novel of the tetralogy, called the “Cemetery of Forgotten Books”, which began in 2001 with “The Shadow of the wind”. It continued in 2008 with “Angel’s game” followed in 2011 by “The prisoner of Heaven” and ended with “The Labyrinth of Spirits”.

I began Zafon’s novel by chance and it literally captured me.
Started as a discovery and research of a book and its mysterious author, the story develops in a Spain dominated by violence and fear but at the same time temple of a desperate and endless love.

We are in the Barcelona of the far 1945 when the little Daniel, orphaned of a mother, is accompanied by his father in that place full of suggestion which is the “Cemetery of forgotten books” that welcomes and preserves from oblivion books otherwise destined for eternal oblivion.

Right here Daniel will choose Julian Carax’s book, entitled “The Shadow of the Wind”, remaining enchanted by the plot and the mysteriousness of the story.
The discovery of this book will bring with it a series of terrible and disturbing consequences, such as deaths, disappearances and violence but also absurd and beautiful loves, capable of overcoming time and space.

Published in Spain in 2001, “The Shadow of the Wind” is now a real best seller to read and experience due to the richness of its narrative.
I wish everyone to read it.
Maria Domenica Depalo